It is as you say
by Moonlit-Arrow
Summary: Henry deals with the amnesic Sammy who he rescued from the studio.
1. It is as you say

It wasn't working. No matter what he did, nothing seemed right. He let out a frustrated growl as he threw his work off the table. That let out enough stress and urged him to try again, or rather the nagging feeling of regret over his actions, both now and before.

"Master?"

Henry looked up from his work, turning to see the thin male in the doorway. He could see the concerned look Sammy was giving him from behind his ink-dyed hair that covered his face. Maybe he had been a little angry...

"Sorry, Sammy, didn't mean to startle you," he said, smiling as softly as he could at him. In the past, he probably would have gotten yelled at for disturbing him, but after the whole studio thing went down, Sammy was just confused and not at all violent. The former musician lived only to serve, no matter how much Henry wished it wasn't the case

Sammy gave him a confused look but said nothing. "It is as you say, of course," he whispered after a minute of silence, turning to walk away. The one thing Henry had convinced him of was that he had free reign of the house just as long as he didn't leave, Henry did not trust him outside alone yet.

Henry had to admit, there were definitely worse roommates to have. Sammy was quiet and actually fairly helpful at times. For instance he tended to clean, now forever tired of a messy environment. Henry could swear his house never looked better. Mostly that was because Sammy didn't have much else to do.

Still, when Linda returned from her business trip, she was in for quite the surprise. What was he to tell her? "Hey, welcome back honey. By the way I brought back an undead coworker who I haven't managed to locate the family of and he doesn't know how to function without an authority figure so now he sees me as his master and will do anything I ask him"?

He sighed, staring out the window that overlooked his work desk. He was hoping he'd locate whatever was left of the Lawrences by now, it'd been about a month since they left the studio, but it appeared not all families remained the same after thirty years.

Part of him wondered if this was actually a good thing. It wasn't like he could just dump Sammy off with people he barely remembered, if at all, and have them deal with him. He needed therapy and, since Henry was the one to finally free him from the studio, he really only trusted him.

Of course, it would all depend on how well Linda would take this news. She was a peaceful and understanding woman, but would she really like a man she didn't know referring to her husband as 'master'? No, of course not. What woman would? He didn't want this to come down to friend or wife, a decision as to which to keep.

He heard a light tap on the door frame behind him, causing him to turn to see Sammy staring at him again. "Something's wrong," Sammy idly stated, watching him as blankly as he always did. "You've been very quiet. You're never this quiet. You were never a silent artist."

"Yeah, I was think-," Henry stopped himself. _You were never a silent artist_. He used to hum, whistle, or speak to himself whenever he was lost in his world in the studio, and that was whenever he was alone to do the next frame. That was thirty years ago. He knew for a fact that all memories of him were erased from most employees. That meant...

He turned excitedly, jumping up and latching onto Sammy's shoulders, nearly toppling the thinner man. "You remembered part of the past!" he cried. If he didn't know that Sammy would shove him away in a second, even in a dead-like daze like this, he would have hugged him.

Sammy stared at him blankly before nodding. "I appear to have so, yes," he commented. "Now would you kindly remove yourself from me?"

That was more like the director he used to work with! Henry removed his hands from his shoulders and backed away slightly. "Hey, it's progress, right?" he pointed out. "C'mon, you don't want to be amnesic your entire life, do you?"

Sammy just stared at him before closing his eyes and sighing lightly. "It is as you say, master," he muttered.

Henry let out his own sigh but the smile remained on his face. Like he said, it was progress. He'd just have to keep working at it.

* * *

{~Note: At the time of writing this, I was writing under the assumption I got from the wiki that Henry and Linda are married. If it's ever confirmed at some point that they're not, I will come back and edit their relationship here. Anyway, Thanks for reading ^-^ ~}


	2. Echo in the Mirror

{~This chapter takes place before the first chapter. Inspired by the song 'Echo'. Thanks for your kind words, faves, and follows ^-^. Also, the first chapter was translated into Spanish by the lovely Estefy Tsukino, which is absolutely incredible!~}

* * *

A few days after Henry rescues Sammy from the studio...

His eyes stared forward as his reflection stared back at him. Was this... was this really him? This figure was so thin, which if what little memory he had served him well, he was fairly skinny before the studio so it made sense but... this was far too thin. He could see his bones where the much-to-big clothing he was given didn't cover.

Thin fingers reached up and pulled a stringy lock of inky black hair out of his pale face, allowing him to stare further at himself. His eyes looked so tired, like he hadn't slept in forever. Had he slept? Did humans need sleep? Of course they did... what else though?

The man who rescued him from the studio walked past the bathroom, stopping to peer through the open door at him. "Sammy?" he asked. "You okay?"

He didn't answer, he simply continued to watch his reflection as he moved his hand towards and away from his face. This was so jarring to him, seeing someone he didn't recognize repeating his every move back to him. He knew how mirrors worked, so he knew this had to be himself, but that didn't mean he really knew the man who stared back at him.

Master Henry sighed and walked over to him, smiling lightly as he pulled the rest of his hair out of his face. "I'm sure Linda won't mind," he stated, reaching into the drawer to the right of the sink and pulling out a small loop. His hands were careful as he wrapped the loop around Sammy's hair a few times, pulling it back in a small pony tail. "There," he said with a brighter smile.

Sammy's hand reached back to touch the pony tail in confusion still, his eyes never moving from the man in the mirror. "So strange," he stated, absentmindedly.

"Yeah, it'll feel a little odd since it's so oily, but it'll feel better once you wash it," Henry explained. "I'll buy you some shampoo and conditioner tomorrow when I go to the store," he paused to look him over again. "And maybe some clothing, too. I doubt any of my clothes will fit you."

.~.~.~

Sure enough, the next day Sammy was staring at himself in the mirror again, this time looking at yet another man he didn't know. His hair was still black, even though he was pretty sure that wasn't its natural color, but now it was softer and not so... oily. And instead of falling over a shoulder, the collar of his shirt hung loosly around his neck like a normal shirt. The man staring back at him looked like a more put together man, which meant that wasn't him at all.

His life was still a mess, the only thing holding it together was Henry now. He didn't remember his past, he barely remembered his own name most days, all he knew was the Hell that the studio had become and that he lived in it for a long time. The only feeling he knew was the perpetual pain that racked his body day in day out, but that pain was now gone. The world of black and white was gone as well, replaced with bright colors that he had never seen before.

Finally, he left the bathroom and went to the living room to see if he could find Henry. He saw the man sitting in front of what seemed like a pile of newspapers with four wooden legs coming off. It appeared that Henry had strewn newspapers all over the coffee table, the reasoning behind that remained unclear.

He walked over to the man and looked at the papers. All of them were just the old obituaries from the late 30's to mid 40's, the general time when the studio shut down. He said nothing, though Henry had started talking to him, simply watched as Henry shifted through the papers like he was looking for something. Soon enough, he seemed to have found it as he let out a pleased "ah-ha!"

Sammy peered at the paper to see... 'obituary of Sammy Lawrence'. His own obituary. Henry had been looking for that? Apparently so as the man had taken out a notepad and was writing down the names of relatives listed.

His eyes zeroed in on the photograph of the male under his name and date of birth to date of disappearance. Though black and yellowing white, the man looked nothing like him or the man in the mirror. He was thin but not deadly so, his cheeks were not so set in, nor were his eyes, and his hair looked soft and well groomed as well as a lighter color.

He wasn't that man, he was sure of it. He wasn't the man in the mirror either. Who was he?

Henry caught his staring and stood up, getting his full attention again. "I know what you're thinking," he said calmly. "I promise you, this picture and the reflection you see in the mirror are the same person, just thirty years in an inky Hell apart. And I can promise you that you'll look at least closer to how you did before again, it just takes time. Okay?"

Sammy stared at him then at the picture again. There was no way he'd ever look exactly like him but... maybe he could look a little like that someday. He looked back at Henry and offered a weak smile, nodding ever so gently.

Henry smiled back at him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a quick hug. "Good. Now would you mind helping me find the coffee table? I seem to have lost it a while ago."

Sammy's smile widened as he laughed slightly. He nodded again.

* * *

{~I swear, Sammy in this is literally how I "talk" to people. I originally just wrote this story because I was bored, but I came up with more (back in January... I hate editing and that's my only excuse), which I'm super excited about! Thanks again for your kind reviews and thanks for reading ^-^~}


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